The week before Christmas, I had to fly to Oakland, CA, for a meeting. (Two days traveling, one day allocated for the meeting, 90 minute meeting. Sigh.)
I picked my hotel (The Washington Inn) because it was right next to the Pacific Coast Brewing Company. Big, hoppy beers and free wi-fi. Perfect office space for a business traveler! (Food is not terribly impressive, though. Oh well…)
(I didn’t take any pictures of the brewpub, so I "borrowed" this one from their website…)
I got to Oakland just after lunch (Pacific time). I spent the afternoon at Pacific Coast working on my presentation for the next day and handling the typical day-to-day emails. I only had a couple of beers with lunch because I had dinner with another customer…
The day of the meeting arrived, and I still hadn’t heard from the customer about the TIME of the meeting, despite a slew of emails and voicemails asking for that very little, but critical, piece of information. (He is a Really Important Person, and I’m just a supplier…)
So, I got up early, ironed my shirt and got my suit ready and waited. He finally called around 10 a.m. and asked if we were still on for 2 p.m. Umm, okay…
Dang. I was hoping it would be a morning meeting so I could drive up to Napa Valley or something. Oh well.
After the meeting (where he didn’t want to see a presentation, nor did he let me complete a damned sentence without interrupting to tell me his Really Important Observations), I walked around the waterside (in my suit).
Here’s a view of some of the older cranes (which they’re trying to sell) at the port, as seen from Jack London Square. The cranes in the far background are pretty new - all with our controls…
A lone seagull just hanging out on the handrail. (For that very reason, most handrails are not something you’d want to touch with your, say, hand…)
Jack London Square is ready for Christmas:
After walking around for a bit, I went back to the hotel, changed out of my Sunday-go-to-meetin’ clothes, and drove up to Berkeley.
I think I saw a pretty much equal number of college students and homeless people in Berkeley…
My first stop was at Jupiter. It was a very cold night (just above freezing - unusual for the Bay Area). I sat out in the beer garden, but close to the fire. I had a couple of decent, but unremarkable, beers and a nice pizza. I definitely would like to go back when the weather is better (and the trumpet vines are in bloom - they’re all over the beer garden.) Another "borrowed" picture (this is the beer garden):
Then I walked to Triple Rock Brewery & Alehouse. Again, I had a couple of good beers, but nothing to write home a blog about. Yet another "borrowed" picture. (I gotta remember to carry my camera…)
I drove back to Oakland and finished the night at Pacific Coast. (Didn’t want to have too much to drink before driving back. Four beers in three or four hours should be okay…) Plus, I had a very early flight back to the east coast. (Luckily I had an upgrade on the Oakland/Chicago flight, so I could catch a few more zzzz’s…)
Next week, I’ve got a couple of presentations in the Newark area. My Swedish colleague, Hans, will be with me on this trip. He doesn’t like staying in working man kind of accommodations (like anything near the Newark airport/port), so we’ll be staying in Manhattan. I’m dieting (again) so I probably won’t seek out a lot of beer stops. Sigh…
